The 1st Sherry's Shorts of 2026 is here! Listen to dazzling stories of new starts & journeys by award-winning Scottish Highland-based writers @seanluskauthor.bsky.social, Helen Sedgwick, Ian Tallach & me with fab actors @churchofben.bsky.social & Margo Fraser.
www.mixcloud.com/invernesshr/...
Happy to have a story on Hannah's Imbolc Special on North Manchester FM. Listen live today on Saturday 31st January, 2-4pm: hannahkate.net/north-manche...
Congratulations Sherry! X
Congratulations!! Wonderful news.
Sunrise on the beach behind a rocky outcrop
You carve your #dream into the rock, stare through each crevice at the ever changing sea.
I reply with sunrise, softening your edges with a shimmering kiss.
Morning by morning, our love lives on. #vss365
We will lie down here, waterside. You trace my scars, each #argent line an echo of sweeping mountain curves, reflections of the starlight spiralled sky. And so it is, and will be, when we return to earth. Moonlit. Marvellous. Immortal. #vss365
We name it #experiment: code word concealing intent.
'Just a game,' you say.
Until it isn't.
We sit, squished: three bodies in a two man tent. It learns quick, whispering words echoes of our own.
Two syllables repeat, urgent.
'Hungry.'
We hold our breaths. Wait.
Either way, it will be over soon.
She'd glimpsed #terror once. Now she kept her head down, counted pavement cracks
Until the red shoes with lollipop lacquer that squeaked as she slid them on. And danced. And stared at the shine until it coalesced into a million eyes. By sunset, in the dark, the shoes were all that was left. #vss365
It lies inside, this silent #songbird. Buried deep beneath the many masks we wear, it beats its wings, forcing a flutter in the chest, weaving its way up, up to form a living lump in a choking throat.
One day, soon, she'll sing again.
For now, we wrap ourselves in whispers and we wait. #whistper
FFF19052021
Chosen by Judge Hazel Turner
FFFCompetition Three Winning Story:
The last wolf in Brighton’s in the prize booth on the pier
by Abi Hennig
@abihennig.bsky.social
#flashfiction #writingcompetitions
freeflashfiction.com/fiction/the-...
Love love love this piece by @stillsquirrel.bsky.social
Thrilled to be a tiny drop in this year's FlashFlood. Happy #nffd2025
scarlet dawn
the city gulls are crying
salty for the sea
here is a splinter
of my driftwood heart
#whistpr #30Days30Words
#vss365
When the sea stills,
When the sky sinks - grey, impenetrable
When the hummingbird's wings stutter
When the leaves curl inwards, holding their breath
Let us lie together on the shore and sing the song of the #nudibranch
Watch colour explode anew #vss365
"You said autistic children are a burden. That they ruin families. That they’ll never pay taxes or write poems. That they are, in essence, collateral damage. I’d like to introduce you to my daughter."
That first morning, me and Old Robot sit on a cliff edge. Split boots and rusty feet dangling over a sea all maybe colours of new day.
Old Robot says, all these long nights I saw in black and white, as zeros and ones, only safety or danger.
Look now, the gulls are flying golden spirals.
#whistpr
I'm thrilled to be a small part of the @tldrpress.bsky.social charity collection - available now in print and ebook: tldrpress.org/2025/03/16/h...
The March episode of Sherry's Shorts is here, with tales about fishing & the sea. There's a great piece by @sagreene1.bsky.social & also super stories by local Highland writers Timski, LG Thomson & Cynthia Rogerson. www.mixcloud.com/invernesshr/... Listen live to @highlandhradio.bsky.social
They come from the sea, tall as trees, a slick #cerulean swarm.
Close up we see the stippling, presume pixelation - holographic horror hosted by a hive mind.
But as they swipe to smite, a million microplastics vibrate in time.
Too late, we recognise the monsters we made. #vss365
" #Myopic Man " the headlines blaze.
Readers devour the story:
"Pensioner's prescient painting."
"Model mirrors: microchosm of real life murder discovered in shed next door."
They call him soothsayer, set the old man free.
He dips his brush.
Begins again.
#vss365
A chime of little daffodils gathered in a huddle on last autumn's leaves
Their heads do nod as I pass, gathered together in fallen leaves, not grass. How they whisper, how they #chime. With golden trumpets, they put on a play, and I, a crowd of one, do pause briefly to see. No fee. They're just the ticket for me, to lighten my step, lift my chin, begin this day.
#vss365
Thank you!
Thank you!
Loved this Jenny!
Hello lovelies.
Here is a tiny but cheerful blog about how (not) to be original.
2 mins read.
Hope you enjoy.
#amwriting #writingcommunity #blog
www.jennygaitskell.com/single-post/...
When you slammed the door, stillness descended.
At the window box, my fingers sieve soil. Even seeds won't grow in silence.
A scattered shard of glass; #sonic scream unleashed. Sound spills like milk, across the ground, up the wall, above the sink. There, slowly, green shoots spark. #vss365
an archival black and white photograph of the KKK marching in Washington DC with the capitol behind them
In light of everything happening, I wrote about how the KKK in the 1920s felt unstoppable, about the people that fought against them anyway, and about how fascism always fails. dansinker.com/posts/202…
So pleased you enjoyed Interludes, Pat. Thank you for reading and sharing @pdforan.bsky.social @lisaferranti.bsky.social #flashfiction #flashfictionfebruary
Thank you Sherry! X
Congratulations to all the winners. I'm so pleased my little story will be part of this collection! #tldrterrors